Geography 351: Geographies of Indigenous-Settler Relations is a third-year course in the Department of Geography and Planning at Queen’s University. In this course, we explore the dynamics of settler colonialism and Indigenous Peoples in the context of Turtle Island/Canada. This course reconsiders settler narratives of the Canadian state by engaging Indigenous scholarship and emphasizing critical engagement with Indigenous perspectives on Indigenous-settler relations. We also take a critical look at how the dispossession and displacement of Indigenous lands, families, children and ultimately homes have been key focal points in the expansion and entrenchment of the settler colonial state in Canada. In turn, these sites are being contested and engaged in resistance by Indigenous peoples and Nations vis-à-vis Indigenous resurgence, land claims and self- government. It is my hope that through this course students will gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for the complexity and diversity of Indigenous peoples and the complexity of settler-Indigenous relations.

For the final assignment for the course in the Winter 2023 semester, students were given the option to choose a research paper, an academic book review or a creative/arts-based project. The parameters of each option differed slightly, but were united in the aim to engage directly with key geographical themes from the course in a critical analysis of Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada. Students were reminded throughout the semester that the course was not only an intellectual endeavour, but a deeply personal and often emotional one. As a result, many of the final assignments took on a very personal tone as students with diverse positionalities examined their own roles and responsibilities vis-à-vis Indigenous-settler relations, witnessing and truth, and ultimately the pursuit of reconciliation and justice. 

This website is intended to provide an exhibit space for some of the class contributions to this assignment—each student whose work is presented here provided their consent to have their work displayed in this way.